Infant car seats are used to safely transport infants in vehicles. Certain infant car seats include a base positioned on the vehicle cushion and an infant car seat removably attached to the base, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,751. It is desirable to have the infant car seats properly oriented for optimal safety and comfort.
In the past, the riding attitude of the infant car seat was adjusted by placing a rolled up blanket or some. other maneuverable article underneath the car seat base and manipulating the blanket until the proper attitude was achieved. This practice, however, can be inconvenient and awkward. More recently, child car seats have been designed with tilt adjustment mechanisms to adjust the car seat position relative to the vehicle seat cushion. See, for instance, the car seat described in U.S. Pat. 5,836,650. The adjustment mechanism for such a car seat can include a support member, or support foot, at a front portion of the car seat base. The relative positioning of the support member and the car seat base can be changed to tilt the car seat base relative to the vehicle seat cushion. The front end of the car seat base is raised relative to the support member, and the car seat base pivots, or rocks back, along its rear end. This type of adjustment mechanism can leave a gap between the underside of the car seat base and the vehicle seat cushion. Gapping is undesirable, as the gap provides an area where trash, such as cans, bottles, magazines, etc, can collect.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/421,411, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, provides an infant car seat/carrier assembly that eliminates the gap and provides a bigger support surface area on the vehicle seat cushion. The assembly of Ser. No. 09/421,411 includes a base and a foot that extends beneath the base from its front end toward its back end. The foot both tilts the base relative to the vehicle seat cushion and provides a relatively large flat surface for resting the base on the vehicle seat cushion. Although the foot performs well to achieve the proper attitude of the base on the vehicle seat, the multiple components of the foot make it less than ideal from a manufacturing standpoint. It would be desirable to further improve the configuration of infant car seat bases to achieve one that is simple in construction and that includes a large, lower surface area for placement on the vehicle seat cushion.
Other considerations applicable to infant car seat bases include recent regulations promulgated in the United States that will require vehicle manufacturers to place anchorages in their vehicles so that the infant car seats can be more securely coupled to the vehicles. By Sep. 1, 2002, infant car seat manufacturers will be required to add additional anchor straps to the lower part of their products. The anchor straps will be used to attach the infant car seat to a pair of anchorages located in the vehicle""s rear seats at the crease where the seat back and seat cushion come together. These anchorages will consist of round metal bars spaced 280 mm, center-to-center. Latches will be used to connect the anchor straps to the lower anchorages. The anchor straps and associated latches will add some bulk and extra components to the infant car seats. In anticipation of the new regulations, it would be desirable for infant, toddler, and child car seats to include a way to store the anchor straps and latches.
The present invention addresses these needs to further improve car seats and car seat bases.
The present invention is drawn to a base for an infant car seat. In one aspect of the invention, the base has a tilt adjustment mechanism that allows multiple vertical locking positions for adjusting the attitude of the attached infant car seat relative to a vehicle seat cushion. In another aspect, the base can have a storage compartment for one or more anchor strap and latch assemblies used to latch the base to anchorages in the vehicle seat.
A base for a child seat in accordance with one aspect of the invention comprises an upper surface adapted to carry an infant car seat and a storage compartment formed in the base. The storage compartment opens to an exterior surface of the base, preferably to the base""s upper surface. The base further includes a cover for the storage compartment. The cover is movably attached to the upper surface by, for example, a hinge, and moves between an open position and a closed position. The storage compartment preferably is located between belt guides formed on the upper surface of the base. The storage compartment is preferably sized to store a pair of latches and associated webbing or anchor straps. The storage compartment preferably is defined by at least one side wall, which has at least one attachment element. The attachment element can comprise a looped retainer secured to an underside of the base.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a base for an infant car seat comprises an upper base unit, a sub-base unit, a height adjustment mechanism, and a pivot mechanism. The upper base unit is adapted to carry an infant car seat. The sub-base unit is adapted to rest on a vehicle seat cushion and has a length at least half of a length of the upper base unit. The upper base unit is tiltably mounted to the sub-base unit to permit vertical adjustment of the upper base unit at a plurality of vertical tilt positions relative to the sub-base unit. The height adjustment mechanism includes a single, curved height adjustment rack and an actuator that releasably engages the height adjustment rack at different vertical locations along the height adjustment rack. The height adjustment rack is located on an upper surface of the sub-base unit adjacent a first end thereof. The actuator is mounted to the upper base unit such that movement of the actuator from one of the vertical locations to another of the vertical locations tilts the upper base unit from one of the vertical tilt positions to another of the vertical tilt positions. The pivot mechanism pivotally connects the upper base unit to the sub-base unit. The pivot mechanism has a first part on the sub-base unit and a second part on the upper base unit. The first part is located at a position closer to a second end of the sub-base unit than to the first end of the sub-base unit.
These features, as well as other features, of the present invention will be set forth in the description that follows.